A vast monument to the obscure and glorious, to the dead and awakened...A soundtrack for the 23rd dimension... a post-genre codex of grave import.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Here Comes Pong to Houston!!

Part two of the first part on Pong's publicity push for new album Escobarb (2010). I've wanted to do a full track-by-track video interpretation of an entire record for awhile, and I see no better opportunity than this. So, full album as YouTube playlist, and below are the last 4 songs.

This mini-track has been up on Myspace for ages, and breaks up the album up into about halves. When this was all I'd heard of new material, it kind of threw me off. Like Pong was going in some wild new direction that did not involve electro-space boogie-psych. Which obviously ended up not being a major concern...

"Umbrella" from Escobarb (2010)

This song didn't really flow naturally for me at first. I think making the video helped me piece it together in my mind. Like the various parts, but still seems a little collaged together. Live gigs are the crucible for making such things succeed...

"Sunshine" from Escobarb (2010)

I was hesitant to just let the gravure modelling film roll, but it turned into an undeniable Wizard of Oz-Dark Side of the Moon phenomenon. So there it is... In the last post, I mentioned getting a tape of the previous Houston show. I had to put names to unreleased songs, and I named this one "Overstimulated." Even much more interesting (nice segue) are the names given by someone else on a 2005 Lawrence, KS tape. "Superwrong" was labeled Is this thing stuck on On?/intense sounds. There's also a song I'm positive I'd never heard, so-called Get A Little Bit/Then One Day... What ever happened to that?

"Escobarb" from Escobarb (2010)

And the title epic of experimental wide-screen funk and wha?! I wasn't fully prepared, but now think it's a fantastic ending. Maybe the finest Pong tune not primarily driven by live performance concerns. The melodica, the choogling, the guitar and sound effects, the sung/spoken/chanted/rapt storysong worthy of a Marty Robbins from Saturn! "The baseball guys..." Super-awesome.